Who here always has the compulsion to modify his/her car?

DTMracer said:
Just wondering, what suspension kit would be good for my E55? I'm looking at an eibach kit and about to bite the bullet on them, but was wondering if there are other just as good options.
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You should just give it to me.

Real reason for post:
Are mods for the E55 hideously expensive? For Benzes in general? I might be able to talk my mom into letting me have her Benz and she get a Boxter/Cockster or base 911 in a year or two... and I would like to modify it a little.
 
thedguy said:
Wait a tick... when did you get an R33 GT-R (My favorite)? Didn't you used to drive a Honda Accord?

And before you ask, yes I have that poor of attention to detail.
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haha, yeah I got it in March this year. I think i announced it in one of the Melbourne meet threads so most people wouldn't know. I've had a WRX since the Honda Prelude too....
 
JakeRadden said:
You should just give it to me.

Real reason for post:
Are mods for the E55 hideously expensive? For Benzes in general? I might be able to talk my mom into letting me have her Benz and she get a Boxter/Cockster or base 911 in a year or two... and I would like to modify it a little.
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Modding german cars always tends to be more expensive than japanese on average. Whats your income level? If its not that high and you dont have a lot of disposable cash, then don't mess up the car with halfway budget mods. Honda Civic owners do that kind of thing, Mercedes owners shouldnt.
 
me too!

154 Hp to 230 HP for 425 euros (ecu flash + boost controller)

Now i'm busy fitting a new exhaust system, one ecu upgrade away from 265HP after that.
 
edkwon said:
Modding german cars always tends to be more expensive than japanese on average. Whats your income level? If its not that high and you dont have a lot of disposable cash, then don't mess up the car with halfway budget mods. Honda Civic owners do that kind of thing, Mercedes owners shouldnt.
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Exactly - if you have something like an E320 and don't have wheelbarrow loads of cash sitting around to make it fast, don't bother. Anything less than cubic dollars isn't going to work and may actually hurt the car.

If you're in that situation and want to go fast, save yourself the time, trouble, and money - get a cheap motorcycle instead and leave the car alone.
 
There are really only two things I want to do to my car.
1.) Rear windshield wiper. I hate how dirty the damn thing gets and it's annoying having to clean it off at almost every fuel stop.

2.) New wheels. Now I've only recently started thinking about this, and I'd say it stems in no small part from how freakin many people around here have the same car. I don't want body kits or some fancy paint job, and I LOVE black chrome, so I've started looking around a bit for some black chrome wheels that would look good on my car.

EDIT: Some more power would of course be nice, but have a bit of a heavy foot and don't need any help going faster, I'd like to avoid any more speeding tickets.
 
Spectre said:
Exactly - if you have something like an E320 and don't have wheelbarrow loads of cash sitting around to make it fast, don't bother. Anything less than cubic dollars isn't going to work and may actually hurt the car.

If you're in that situation and want to go fast, save yourself the time, trouble, and money - get a cheap motorcycle instead and leave the car alone.
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Thanks for the advice, I figured I'd have to throw wheelbarrows of money in upgrades (And repairs seriously it breaks every other week), but I'd rather not die on a bike (And I would look rediculous on one).
Might just try and get a Legacy. Always liked them.
 
Eh... most people look better than normal in riding outfits, provided you don't go the "garish-neon-colors Power Ranger suit" route. Examples:

042502side2.jpg


VGfirstRaceSmile.jpg
(yes, that is a girl on her bike, from: http://motoress.blogspot.com/2007/06/bliss-in-female-riders-smiles.html)
 
JakeRadden said:
You should just give it to me.

Real reason for post:
Are mods for the E55 hideously expensive? For Benzes in general? I might be able to talk my mom into letting me have her Benz and she get a Boxter/Cockster or base 911 in a year or two... and I would like to modify it a little.
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Oh, believe me, the amount of money I've thrown into my E55 is enough to purchase a second, small and cheap car to use as a daily driver......

But than again, modifying European cars has always been much more expensive than Japanese cars. There are fewer companies making parts for these cars (The brabus wheels were a pain to source), and when you do find somebody who sells the right parts they usually charge through the roof for them.

Some colleagues of mine recently commented that many European car owners are starting to interchange Japanese parts with European parts due to the price difference and that fact that the most japanese parts these days are quiet well built. Could be an option for me to look into.

Than again, I might just put air-rider suspension on it and call it a day. :p
 
airmenair said:
Alot of people seem to think modding their cars is cosmetic, sorry but i don't consider tinting the windows, custom paint, body kits to be mods at all
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Yep. Kind of makes me sad :cry:.

I'm a perpetually-broke-as-hell college student and I still manage to modify my cars. Here's what I've got either on my car or (hopefully) going in over the next few weeks:
-Lincoln Mark VII radiator
-Electric fans (took them from my Celica hehe)
-Internally regulated alternator
-Holley 4160 carburetor w/manual choke
-Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
-TCI Shift Improver Kit

Oh and cosmetics :p, I have a front spoiler/air dam off an S10 that I'm going to hack onto my car, and the car needs primered too. That stuff will get done whenever it stops raining for more than half an hour. And somewhere down the line it will get bucket seats.
 
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Cosmetics, my car came with a very subtle spoiler on it from the previous owner, and I've seen no reason to remove it, plus as we all know, they add 25hp! It had tinted windows when I got it, and I don't mind 'em, so that's staying. Other than that, I don't have any plans for the exterior, nor would I even be able to buy anything even if I wanted to.

Things that are in the works:
-Moving from 4-lug wheels to 5-lug ones in order to get away from 13" rims. I actually went out and bought S10 parts yesterday to do this.
-Switching rear brakes from drums to disks
-Moving over to a posi diff rather than an open one
-Gonna try to find some thicker swaybars
-Putting in springs meant for a V8, but with one coil sliced off
-Moving from carbs over to the EFI that the car should have, though that would be more of an demodification
-Increasing the engine size from 2.0L to 2.3L via new crank, rods, and pistons
-Designing a completely new dash with digital gauges with my friend (we're programmers and he's great with making circuitry)
-May repaint some day and then get the pinstriping the car should have
 
airmenair said:
What i gather from this thread?

Alot of people seem to think modding their cars is cosmetic, sorry but i don't consider tinting the windows, custom paint, body kits to be mods at all
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tigger said:
Yep. Kind of makes me sad :cry:.
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Well... it could be argued that if I got lighter wheels that'd be a performance mod, tiny as it may be. :p

I actually generally agree with what you guys are saying though, and if I had money to spare some of it would certainly go to some performance modifications to make my car just a bit for fun around town.
 
:eek: just saw this pic...

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I think my car needs one of those bonnets....
 
No you don't, unless you're running very heavy engine mods...
 
I have so many ideas but not enough money.

1. Engine swap (for the 3.2 tl engine from the 2.4 tsx) if there is enough room in the engine bay
2. turbo it
3. hks exhaust
4. lower it
3. 19 inch rims
4. lip spoiler

Im stickin with the tsx body cause i think it looks better than the tl
 
flyingfridge said:
Answer the question: yes. I'm a Skyline owner, it's what we do ;)
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Pretty much the same could be said for me...except I'm a Honda owner.

As one person already said, I think I have an engineer's mind-anything I look at I attempt to "improve" it. Obviously, by "improve" I really mean altering to to suit my own interests :lol:
To my 1998 Honda/Acura Integra, I have done-

AEM short ram intake with insulating heat wrap and fabbed heatshield
DC Sports 4-2-1 Header
Tanabe Super Racing Medallion exhaust with custom resonator added
High flow 2.5" catalytic converter
Removed power steering
Carbon Fiber Hood
16x7" Rota GT3 wheels with 205/50/16 BFGoodrich G-Force tires
Hawk HPS brake pads(soon to be replaced with more aggressive HP+ pads)
Powerslot brake rotors
Custom fabbed brake cooling ducts
Neuspeed front strut tower bar
Custom rear strut bar, trunk floor bar, and trunk wall bar
Skunk2 rear tie bar
Megan Racing C-Pillar bar
Coilovers
Integra Type-R 22mm rear sway bar
Integra Type-R guage cluster
Integra Type-R red-stitched shift boot
Acura RSX shift knob
Integra Type-R wing
Integra Type-R front lip
Various weight reduction...(dropped car from 2650 stock to 2480 with A/C and full front interior)
HID's

Honestly...I consider it fairly stock :lol:
I just discovered today that my head gasket is blown, which puts some other plans on hold, but in the future I'm planning on adding a GSR transmission, Crower stage 2 cams, a 7-lb flywheel, a stage 2 clutch, and some sort of adjustable dampers. The car is a daily driver that I hit the mountains with at least once a week...when I get the chance and the money I'm going to start autocrossing it and tracking it.
 
DTMracer said:
Oh, believe me, the amount of money I've thrown into my E55 is enough to purchase a second, small and cheap car to use as a daily driver......

But than again, modifying European cars has always been much more expensive than Japanese cars. There are fewer companies making parts for these cars (The brabus wheels were a pain to source), and when you do find somebody who sells the right parts they usually charge through the roof for them.

Some colleagues of mine recently commented that many European car owners are starting to interchange Japanese parts with European parts due to the price difference and that fact that the most japanese parts these days are quiet well built. Could be an option for me to look into.

Than again, I might just put air-rider suspension on it and call it a day. :p
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The problem with Euro cars is the simple fact that the buy in price is more expensive in the first place. You always pay a premium just because it's for a BMW/benz/Porsche. You can save a few bucks if you can find a VW equivalent.

As has been pointed out before though, many times the Euro car modders (VW owners are the exception) tend to do things properly, they won't just slap a turbo on a stock m3 bottom end and expect it to take it, they'll pull it apart and throw in forged low compression pistons and stronger rods.
 
Thats why I'm still holding off on heavy engine work. Seems stupid buying such a nice car and then modifiying it with cheap, inappropriate components.

I'm going to make sure the chassis is more than up to handling any power increases before seriously increasing horsepower, hence the new suspension kit and brakes. Might also change the wheels and tyres again later on.

Also, I doubt the current transmission can take much more power without upgrade work, so that area will need further looking into before any engine upgrades as well.
 
well... I basically drive a wrx with a different shell so I'm quite guilty as well.... bought it with some mods and added some.

So far the car has
Engine:
APS Dual Entry Intercooler
3" MRT S/S Turbo Back Exhaust
IHI VF28 Turbo @ 15psi
Apexi Power FC ECU
Apexi AVC-R Boost Controller
Custom CAI using stock Airbox

Chassis:
WRX 4-pot Brakes
STi V6 Suspension
Whiteline Sway and Strut Bars
17" Buddyclub SF Wheels

Exterior:
STi Type II M Front and Rear Bar
3000k Foglights
4300k HID for Headlights
20% Tinted Glass
 
reading more and more into this whole ECU upgrading thing, got me thinking.

If I take my car to some garage, and some internet geek messes with the car's brain, and it goes faster because of this, is this considered "modifying"? Because A) nobody touched the actual engine and B) you didn't do it yourself.

On another note, i've googled what this would cost me and how much power it could give me extra. I'm very interested now.

400ish ? gives me +30hp and +50Nm of torque, giving a total of 160 hp and 350Nm

*ponders*
 
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